Agenda Update

I’m now nearing completion on the third step of my three-step agenda for the start of this arc:

I. Match Systems (Complete)

I did a ton of statistical analysis on winrates by tier gap, and completely overhauled the match scoring process to produce the new Balance of Power. The system is now dramatically better about making matches fair regardless of the tier matchup: if you have a 50/50 shot at success, the match will be worth base value; if based on tier gap alone one would expect your team to win 9 out of 10 matches against the other team, your gains will be scaled down, so that if you both simply play at your level, neither team will gain points on balance. (In other words: what matters is learning to use faction strategies to punch above your weight class.) Banane des Bois is in charge of scorekeeping.

Behind the scenes, Montesque and the rest of the lore team have been working furiously to flesh out the outlines of Nyroth’s lore. It’s an ambitious story universe, but it should be fun. Even more so than usual, there will be many, many ways that it can play out in the end, depending on the decisions made by the factions. More on this will be coming shortly.

We also have an ongoing Lore Discussion, where we’re actively soliciting comments, criticisms, suggestions, and questions about Factions lore. This will culminate in a “Lore Memo” containing proposed solutions. We’ll post that up for general discussion with the community and final revisions.

On the horizon, I’d very much like to set up a Factions Wiki to help summarize Factions lore on an element-by-element basis. Part of this will also be a space, at last, for Summoners to post bios of their in-universe personas.

III. World Systems (In Progress)

My current focus is World Systems. This is a catch-all term for the military system, research system, and other systems that allow match outcomes to translate more flavorfully into in-universe consequences. Naggarok and I are hard at work on this (together with JDMage), and hope to have a revised draft up soon for public comment.

What’s Next?

Once World Systems are in place, we’ll be ready to really get this arc going, with regular Featured Matches and lore events and (finally) some real exploration of Nyroth. I do apologize for the slow start, and the resultant roster stagnation.